New Tardy Policy

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At the start of the 2016 school year, students at Washington High School were unaware of a “new” policy implemented by the new administration at the school. The policy states that students late to their first period classes must stop by the office to grab a tardy pass. This is not necessarily a new policy, however. In fact, it is an old policy that has been at Wash for multiple years, just never really enforced. So, at the start of this year, the administration started to enforce this age old policy, and, as you may expect, it angered many students.
With the number of students that are late to first hour everyday having substantial numbers, a long line accumulates near the attendance office, and students are forced to wait in that line to receive a pass. The policy, aiming to minimize tardiness among students, can actually make students more late than they would originally have been, having not grabbed a pass. “Every time I am late to first period, I have to grab a pass and just doing that makes me even more late,” said Rimmy Nemickas ‘19.
Although there are conflicting opinions between staff and students on the policy, the new administration made it a top priority to keep the policies from previous years in play at Wash. “There are a lot of frustrations among staff with tardies, and we are just trying to come to a clear understanding on what to do.” said Dr. Carlos Grant, Interim Principal of Wash.
This year at the annual leadership retreat, a group of student leaders got together with the student community and discussed problems that need to be fixed here at Wash. With the unrest the policy enforcement caused among students, it occurred to the leadership group that this was an issue worthy of being brought to the attention of school administrators. As a result of that, next week that leadership group will meet with Dr. Grant to speak about solutions to this problem. Whether the group is able to successfully come up with any solutions, “The administration wants to have a new policy in place by next semester.” said Grant.